Incidental Music

Incidental Music: def. (noun)- music used in a film as a background to create or enhance a particular atmosphere, otherwise known as a score

Monday, May 13, 2013

May Composer of the Month-Hans Zimmer

Hello readers! I have three favorite film score composers, artists whose work I always enjoy, regardless of the film genre they're scoring for. I've featured two of these men already: Alexandre Desplat and John Williams. Today, it's time for the third- Hans Zimmer! His score for The Bible miniseries is spectacular and he's about to release his score for Man of Steel (YES), which should definitely be a contender for Best Original Score at the Oscars this year. Since it's summer and I'm feeling lazy, I thought about simply linking a bunch of YouTube videos to this page and saying "Here. Enjoy." I'll probably still do that, since that would be a best way to show you lots of his wonderful work...but Mr. Zimmer is a genius and deserves more love than that, so here's a brief biography!

Zimmer was born on September 12, 1957 (which shall henceforth be known as Hans Zimmer Day) in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. He learned to play the piano as a child and began pursuing music in earnest after moving to England and graduating from high school. He started out playing keyboard and synthesizer for various European techno bands in the 1970s, including Krakatoa, The Buggles, Helden, Mecano, and The Damned. His first adventures in composing involved writing ad jingles and collaborating with composer Stanley Myers. Zimmer and Myers co–founded the Lillie Yard recording studio, where throughout the 1980s, they wrote music together. Zimmer also wrote some solo scores at this time- Terminal Exposure among them

The turning point in Zimmer's career came in 1988, when he wrote the score for Rainman-a hugely successful film that won Best Picture and earned Zimmer his first Oscar nomination. From there, Zimmer had no where to go but up! Since then, he has earned dozens of awards for his work including an Oscar, a Grammy, and a Golden Globe in 1995 for The Lion King, a Golden Globe in 2001 for Gladiator, and a Grammy in 2009 for The Dark Knight.

Here are some selections from famous Zimmer scores in addition to those above, just to show you how diverse and wonderful his work is! I love his music because it captures my imagination and often makes me want to go on adventures. So, listen to Zimmer's music today and enjoy :)